Current news concerning Oaxaca, Mexico as well as Mark's thoughts, for what they are worth, on the world's most pressing issues of the day.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Canada's liberals bashing us with reckless abandon.

In case you hadn't noticed, Canada is embroiled in a general election campaign. The liberals, in power for 12 years or so, are losing their grip. So, they resort to anti-Americanism a la the French, the Germans, the Chinese, the Spanish, the, well Hell, just about everybody. The liberals have rolled out dire political ads such as:

the election of Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper "would bring a smile to George W. Bush's face."

and

"Mr. Harper, the United States is our neighbor, not our nation," warns one.

"We know he is very popular with right-wingers in the U.S. They have money. Maybe they helped him," the announcer muses on the commercial, unveiled Tuesday.

The WaPo article muses that "the ads could backfire". I would imagine that they could, especially if the liberals somehow pull out an improbable victory. What kind of reception would liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin receive in Washington, were he ever again allowed to visit?

The softwood embroglio that has gone on for years would have been settled by Brian Mulroney, the last conservative Canadian prime minister, in a 30 minute phone call or possibly over lunch with George Bush. Instead, the American-bashing liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin, following up on the heels of the American-bashing liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, has been fighting a very expensive battle over softwood imports for several years. The Canadian softwood industry has lost billions of dollars and thousands of jobs that it will never recover. That somehow doesn't seem too smart to me.